1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to medical devices and more particularly to a disposable device which facilitates the visual inspection and location of soiled sponges after such have been used to absorb blood and wetting agents during the course of a surgical procedure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the performance of surgery, it is common practice to use various size sponges to absorb blood and to moisten exposed organs with saline solution. The soiled sponges must be handled and displayed so that the amount of blood loss can be readily ascertained by visual inspection of those soiled sponges which were used to absorb blood during the operation. Moreover, each and every sponge must be collected and accurately counted to minimize the risk of leaving one of them inside the operative wound. Up to the present time, the methods and devices used or proposed for use for accomplishing these tasks are far from satisfactory.
The prior art discloses disposable devices having individual sites to which soiled surgical sponges can be attached as well as disposable apparatus having individual sites into which such sponges can be inserted for counting purposes. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,889, stackable plastic disposable trays having clusters of slits formed therein are provided. A portion of each soiled sponge is pushed through a cluster of slits to secure the sponge to the upper surface of a tray. Unless the sponge is first rolled into a ball, it can easily obscure a cluster of slits to which no sponge has been attached leading to a miscount or, alternately, slide over the sides of the stacked trays causing spillage of fluids to the surrounding environment. More importantly, the soiled sponges which are attached to the stacked trays are not promptly placed in a bag and sealed but rather remain exposed to the atmosphere of the operating room for long periods of time. Only after the final sponge count has been made is a bag pulled over the trays and sealed for disposal. The lengthy exposure of the soiled sponges may cause bacterial contamination of the atmosphere which is highly undesirable.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,153, trays having clusters of slits formed therein are provided which facilitate a more rapid removal of soiled sponges from direct contact with the atmosphere. But each sponge must be pushed individually through a cluster of slits into a cup. Having a cup for each sponge, these trays are impractical for use in an operating room because they would occupy a large area of the sterile field on which space is already at a premium.
A bag strip having individual pockets, each of which can accomodate one soiled sponge, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,237. A major advantage as well as drawback to the use of the bag strips is their suspendability from any convenient support. Suspension of the bag strips from a support near the operating room table, usually an intravenous bottle standard, provides for ready visual observation of the blood content of the pocketted sponges. But, at the same time, because of the minimum height at which the cross arms of such standards must be placed, the bag strips which depend therefrom are elevated above the patient's incision. As a consequence, soiled sponges, which initially are tossed into an operating room bucket or onto the floor, contaminate the atmosphere in close proximity to the patient each time one of them is lifted to a bag strip pocket for insertion therein. Further, the filled pockets are not sealable which requires extra handling, with virtually no means of preventing blood spillage, prior to the disposal of the bag strips.
Another disposable device to facilitate the counting of sponges is a plastic rim with indentations formed therein for holding the sponges. The rim is supported by an operating room bucket lined with a collection bag. Even when two such devices are utilized, extreme difficulty is experienced by the sponge nurse in maintaining a separation of the sponges used into large and small sizes. Moreover, ready visual inspection of the blood content of the soiled sponges is impractical.